Remember when Ray Lewis said defense wins championships? Well, that saying doesn’t play true in just football.

Hockey, like football, requires the grit of two men defending an area of the ice that is rightfully theirs. Those who have executed in doing so this season have seen their teams rise to the top of the NHL standings. Six of the league’s top 10 teams overall are also among the top 10 teams in fewest goals given up per game, including the Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues, who are ranked first and second overall. The Philadelphia Flyers, however, well, they haven’t been able to have as much success defensively this season.

While their defense has looked better in the past handful of games or so, it still hasn’t been a long enough stint to make anybody feel comfortable. To add insult to injury, they received more bad news this past week.

Marc-Andre Bourdon, a kid whose future with the Flyers looked bright until he suffered a concussion, was on his way back to playing hockey. He actually did well for seven games and had some decent contribution, tallying three assists for the Adirondack Phantoms. However, multiple reports broke out this week that Bourdon has started to suffer from the same symptoms again.

With expiring contracts in the near future for four of the Flyers’ current defensemen, things were looking up for Bourdon. Unfortunately, dreadful memories of the late Eric Lindros are now starting to haunt the Flyers’ staff and the fans.

The severity of the head issues weren’t included, but any time a report like this comes out, it usually tends to be a disappointing outcome. You either escape the concussion bug or you don’t, it’s that simple.